IFFCO MD Dr. U.S. Awasthi has called for deregulation of urea to rid the fertiliser sector of problems. The crop nutrient should be a freely importable item, Dr. Awasthi suggested.
In his view, urea should be an open goods licence [OGL] item and the fertiliser companies should be permitted to import it without having to go through a long complicated bureaucratic process that seems unnecessary.
According to Dr. Awasthi, urea is presently covered under the essential commodities Act 1955 and its prices controlled under the Fertiliser Control Order , 1985. The three canalising agencies designated by the govt. of India import the crop nutrient on behalf of the distributors, Mr. Awasthi said.
It is worth mentioning that India has an annual shortfall of about 30 million tonnes. As it produces only 22 million tonnes of urea in a year it has no alternative to importing about 8 million tonnes of it. In the last fiscal year, IFFCO produced 45.10 lakh tonnes.
Readers could recall that IFFCO is the biggest producer of fertilizer in the country. It is controlled by five crore strong members well-knit into a cooperative federation.
-with input from PTI